After honing his craft for the past four years, McLeod, of Lowell, is preparing to take the next step in his career: To compete against the world.

The son of a taxidermist, McLeod spent his youth helping father Calvin with a variety of animals but he didn't really consider it as a career until college.

"I went to Lake Superior State University on the east end of the U.P. for fisheries and wildlife management," McLeod said. "It's a really big duck hunting area and I started doing some birds for friends and decided to start a business. I fell in love with doing it and I just want to do birds better than anyone else."

"It's been growing every year, it grew 40 percent last year," McLeod said of his business. "Word is getting around, just the other day a guy from West Virginia sent me a bird to do and wants me to ship it back when I'm done."

Competitions are also a growing passion for McLeod. He's entered state competitions multiple years and received a number of awards but this spring he's looking to take the next step: The World Championships in May.

"I'm entering six pieces into the state competition this year and I'll take my top three from that and enter them into the worlds," McLeod said. "I don't expect to go in there and win by any means, but with the seminars they put on and the world champions from previous years talking about the ways that they've done things, it's really priceless to be able to go."

The challenge of waterfowl is what drives McLeod in his attempts at perfection.

"Most taxidermists will agree that birds are the hardest to do because you basically start with nothing on a bird," McLeod said. "You have to remake the neck, you put a brand new head in them, all you start with is this pile of skin and feathers and some bones and they have to be perfect to make them look like a duck at the end."

As he's improved his technique, McLeod has found customer loyalty means everything for his business.

"A lot of guys come to me because they know that's all I deal with are birds," McLeod said. "They feel more comfortable dropping theirs off with me. I enjoy bringing them back to life and making them look as realistic as possible."

"I'll be mounting a standing mallard for a veteran," McLeod said. "A number of veteran hunts get donated and then we do some of the taxidermy for them for free during the show, so I'll be doing that the Thursday of the show until I'm done with it."